Not Traditional, Original

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
(Act 2:38-41 ESV)

The book of Acts is loaded with references to baptisms. About 3000 people were baptized on the original day of Pentecost. The book of Acts also enumerates the baptisms of Philip, Simon, Saul, Lydia, the household of Cornelius, Apollos, and Crispus along with many Corinthians. Not that that there aren’t discussions and arguments over baptism, but we will discuss that in other articles. (See Baptism, Universally Accepted, Widely Disputed for more about that.) For now we will just focus on core Christian beliefs that seem to be taught by everyone in Christianity.

All Christian theologians point to this same verse in the book of Romans as to the meaning of baptism.

We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. Rom 6:4ASV

All groups say that baptism is being buried with Christ, and being raised with him in newness of life, just as the words in the book of Romans say here. This is the core teaching of the meaning of baptism, right out of the letter of Paul the apostle to the Romans.

There are a few other nuggets that Paul incorporates into his epistles.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (1Co 12:13 ESV)

In baptism we become a part of the body of Christ which is the whole group of believers who partake of that Holy Spirit that is given to each of us and that we share.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27 ESV)

When we are baptized we are changed. We no longer are just earthly creatures, animals who can talk and reason. In baptism we are clothed with Christ, giving us access to the Father and to the power that Jesus Christ made available by dying for us on the cross.

Again, there are numerous points of contention on the details, but for now, let’s just celebrate this area of commonality, that in baptism we were buried with Christ unto death, and raised again with him in newness of life.

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Original Christianity

This web is a look at primitive, original Christianity, how it developed over time and how it compares to current practices.

Why? Click to Read More...

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is the common belief of billions of Christians. But there are tens of thousands of denominations. While ancient denominations like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the original and consequently "true" church, innumerable churches and denominations have started citing error in these ancient bastions and/or the leading of the spirit to reform the church and restore the church.

There are numerous disputed issues. Cessation doctrine (prophecy and the gifts of the spirit ended with the apostles), infant baptism, the inerrancy of Scripture, the form of Church government, the role of women in the church, and currently, the acceptance of homosexuality are just some of the many disputed doctrines that cause the Christian body to be so divided.

The Reformation movement performed an invaluable service. But instead of simply reforming the church or simply working to create one more correct alternative church the Reformation movement worked to increase the number of disputes over scripture and consequently the number of splits has increased exponentially.

The problem with looking at all the denominations is that it can become confusing to just compare this church or denomination to that one. The complexity of looking at all the theological implications can become overwhelming. For many busy people that means just making the best, less than fully educated decision they can, and staying with the church of their heritage or finding a church where they feel they can grow.
Just finding the information can be an overwhelming task. Putting it into some understandable framework is an even more complicated task.

This web site, rather than trying to just compare all the current positions on the differences goes back to the beginning (primitive, original Christianity) and evaluates Christianity starting at that point. This includes looking at the gospel accounts, but also includes looking at early church documents as well as other ancient documents, both secular and religious. (There is also a section on Philosophy because its profound impact on Christian theological development.) The articles have numerous references to works both in print and online.

Next the web site looks at the developments in Christianity from original Christianity forward to see how the church developed over time comparing each development with what we know about original Christianity. The goals are:

To trace the development of the church from start to now to see how the church at large wound up with all these competing churches/denominations today, and

To equip people with the knowledge of original Christianity to enable people to make an informed decision on what is the true faith and practice of the church Jesus Christ started.